How to Fold a Paper Heart
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day five hundred and forty-seven: Kurt figures out why Brittany's been sick lately... now he just needs to explain it to her, so they can know.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 26th cycle. Now cycle 27!_

_It's been a year and a half now, wow! :D Thank you so much if you're still with me out there!  
>And today I bring you, for this occasion, the start of a new series I've been waiting forever to start.<br>It was inspired by an idea left in the suggestion box, and as I started considering the possibility of it,  
>I just became really excited about it, about all the implications... Anyhoo, I hope you guys get into it too! :) <em>

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><p><strong>"How To Fold A Paper Heart"<br>Kurt & Brittany  
>HTFAPHeart #1 <strong>

Things had been going better lately. He was still adjusting to his father's relationship with Carole Hudson… He was still adjusting to the father-son vibes going between his father and Finn… But at least he'd stopped trying to be what he wasn't just so his father would notice him. It was hard, but he understood now… he was at peace, and now all of them could move on and forget that part of it, subjecting himself to a personality and style overhaul and all that, put it behind them.

A few weeks had gone by, with all of them thinking more and more about Regionals, although it was still some time away. He was just waiting for the moment when Rachel would lose it and go full on tyrant overlord on all of them. Every time he would walk into that Glee room, she would be one of the first things he saw, almost like he was calculating the levels of her insanity… there may have been a color chart and everything… from 'all clear' blue to 'full nuclear diva' red.

But then that one day, it wasn't Rachel that drew people's attention as they walked in. He'd seen Brittany sick before. When she'd had that cold, she was so bundled up that they could hardly tell it was her. She'd try to dance and she could barely get her arms up. Mr. Schuester had finally managed to send her home. But this was different. He couldn't explain it, but she looked off. Judging by the way Santana was tending to her, he wasn't imagining it; she'd noticed it too. He went and took a seat, ending up behind them. He leaned over, whispering to Santana.

"Hey, what's wrong with…" he nodded to Brittany. Santana looked back at him.

"I don't know," she admitted with a frown before turning back to the blonde, who hardly looked able to hold her head up straight. Glee practice started, and though Mr. Schuester had told her to go home, Brittany didn't want to leave. She just sat there, quietly… it was starting to freak some of them out.

It went on like that for a few more days. She was never absent, physically, though mentally she'd never been so far away. But then another day started, and just when he expected her to just drop dead in the middle of the hall, she actually looked like she was starting to recover. When he saw that, he approached her at her locker.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, showing genuine concern. Through their very brief time as a 'couple,' he had come to see her as even more of a friend, especially for the way she had handled the end of it… or the whole 'relationship,' actually…

"I don't know. I think it's something I ate, but my cat ate the same thing and he's fine," she shrugged, and he sincerely hoped she meant her cat was having some of her food, and not the other way around.

"Yeah, you… you looked kind of ghastly," he told her.

"Does that mean throwing up?" she frowned. "'Cause I did that," she told him, her face showing even bringing up the topic made her concerned it would start up again.

"Okay, sure," he told her, not wanting any sort of explanation of his leading her to get sick again.

A few weeks back, she hadn't had a clue what was really going on with him, and as far as she knew he was exactly what he was presenting himself to be. It was what he was trying to be, so he wasn't going to correct her or indicate that she should treat him like anything else but any other guy. This did not mean he had completely forgotten who he really was, as the evening unfolded, but it didn't stop him from considering and doing things he never would have done otherwise. This included something which he had never envisioned happening, not until one moment that evening when, as some would say 'one thing led to another.' Neither of them had breathed a word of it since then; he had made her swear not to tell anyone else, especially not Santana, though he didn't know if she'd held that up. Kurt still had trouble convincing himself it had actually happened, so he didn't need anyone else making a crack about it. That was past, and that was done.

"You think food poisoning affects… other things?" she asked, bringing him back to reality.

"What kind of other things?" he had no idea what she was going on about.

"Other things," she started, then, after she'd looked around, "Like girl things."

"I'm not a girl," he reminded her, slightly thrown by the fact that she was bringing up… He looked back at her. "This girl thing," he had no idea what had just happened to his voice, "When you say 'affect,' do you mean… change, or… not happening?"

"I…" she looked lost. Now he was the one looking around.

"I'm going to make a wild assumption here and say we're talking about the same thing here, so this 'girl thing' that was affected, did it… not come when it was supposed to?" Apparently she'd finally understood him now, because her posture straightened back up and she confirmed. "Oh…" was all he could say. Looking at her, knowing her, he had to imagine she hadn't connected the dots… she couldn't even see the dots. This was starting to look less and less like food poisoning and more and more like something a lot more serious, but the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. "Right, here's what you need to do. Go to a clinic, and tell them exactly what you told me. They'll want to run a test, and… and then you'll have your answer." She smiled.

"See, you do know about these girl things," she told him, and he forced a smile for her sake. After that, he started to move on down the hall, except… Oh, what were the odds? Sure, it was Brittany, but even then… He wasn't keeping track of who she had been with over time, but he knew she had been with at least one person in the right timeline… Finally he had to stop walking and just flat out ask himself if he thought it was a coincidence, or if…

He dreaded even having to do this, but he had to ask… Maybe he was thinking too much. Maybe some poor bastard out there was about to get smacked with this news and not him… or maybe he was the poor bastard. If that was the case, his father would have every right to reprimand him as he wished, considering he'd promised him he didn't have to worry about this ever happening with him. When he reached her, she was still at her locker.

"Brittany, I need to ask you something, and it's important," he told her, feeling his lungs struggling. She gave a small nod. "In and around the time you and I were… together… Were you… were you with anyone else?" She looked confused. "Any other guys, you know…" he tried not to be too obvious but still clear, considering they were in a public setting.

"Oh…" she nodded, then shook her head. "No." He didn't realize how he'd just been standing there, frozen, until… "Are you okay?" she asked. He made the decision then and there.

"Okay, you know that clinic I mentioned? I'm going with you… right now."

"But I have a Spanish test," she told him.

"How do you think that's going to turn out?" he asked, and she briefly thought about it.

"Okay, let's go," she closed her locker door.

He had this fear like he would crash the car, his hands were shaking so much on the steering wheel. He didn't want to think about anything, about whether this was really happening, if it might not, if it was really his if it WAS happening, about what they would do if was all true… He couldn't go there, not until he knew for sure… then he had just a little while longer to live in a world where the possibility of the word 'no' ever coming up was still within his grasp.

When they did arrive, Brittany signed in and then they sat in the waiting room. There were a lot of people… this might take a while. Sitting there, he had the strangest of fears like he'd turn around and see one of his teachers… he didn't. Instead though, he had to think about… her. She was just sitting there, trusting and not frightened at all… she had no idea… He'd have to tell her before they went in there. He closed his eyes, taking a breath or two.

"Brittany…" he started, and she turned to him. "Do you know why we're here?"

"Food poisoning," she shrugged.

"Yeah… I don't think that's what it is." She was just looking at him, like she expected him to give her the answer. In a way it was almost comforting, the fact that she didn't know… At least he could continue to ignore it, keep it an unconfirmed possibility. As nice as it was for him though, it wouldn't have been right to keep her in the dark. It was happening to him, but to her even more… possibly. "If it's not food poisoning, and you've been sick, and you're late…" he stretched it out, hoping she'd take the bait and figure it out. She looked around, and it was like she was finally understanding where she was. Even then, she didn't look too sure… did she even know this was how babies came? When she looked back at him, she looked mildly concerned… Did she get it now? Or was it just the sickness talking? "Everything's going to be fine, I promise," he hoped he sounded reassuring. "I'll be right there."

"Thanks," she smiled, just as her name was called. Her smile went away in a flash once she figured out she was about to have blood drawn. She turned back to Kurt and when the nurse suggested she rolled up her sleeve she looked ready to bolt. "Not needles, not needles…" she kept chanting under her breath.

"I-it's alright, just keep looking at me…" Kurt tried to calm her down.

"Not needles," she was shaking her head, even as he got her to sit down.

"It's okay, don't think about it, look at me," he took her other hand in his, kept her focusing on him. "You want… you want to sing?"

"No, I don't want to sing," she shook her head.

"Right, well, that's fine, I mean… You know when I was little I hated these things, too. And my mother, she would just keep her calm, and I realized if she wasn't scared then I didn't have to be, either."

"So it doesn't scare you anymore?" she asked, more relaxed now.

"Sometimes," he admitted. "But then I remember that it's just one instant and then… it's done." She nodded, smiling, and he smiled back. "No, see, it's done," he indicated with his head. She turned to look and saw the nurse labelling the tube. Kurt let out a breath. Now that she was calm, he was the one who felt his hands shake again… They'd take the blood now, and they'd find out, and… No more possibility land, only reality…

They were told to wait in the other room again, and so they went, and they sat. He got her some water, and… they waited. He was just… he couldn't move, couldn't think… He was just sitting, without any kind of activity… he could have been a statue, a corpse…

"Are you scared?" her voice drew him back, and it refilled his lungs with air.

"Terrified," he admitted. He looked at her. "But… I'm here, okay?" he promised. She nodded; she knew. "What about you? Are you…. scared?"

"If you didn't have to be scared because your mother wasn't… what happened if she WAS scared?" she asked, and he didn't know what to tell her. But then they called her name. They sat in the doctor's office, waiting for him to come in.

They heard the words, they both did… Of all the things he had imagined, actually hearing him confirm it didn't even come close to any of it… Goodbye possibility, hello reality… they were expecting. For half a second he thought about asking her if she was sure there hadn't been anyone else, but as bad timings went, that one would have been monumental. He'd never seen her so still, like she was still processing it, but… no… She didn't need to process it, she'd understood him the first time… she just couldn't move. He could relate. For her sake though, he would just try and be strong. They had a lot to figure out, and he wouldn't abandon her. He'd stuck by her so far, and that wasn't about to change.

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>********always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!****** **


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